Two American students traveling for the spring holidays were arrested and accused of assault in Copenhagen and detained in a Danish prison for two weeks after an alleged altercation with an Uber driver.
Owen Ray, a 19 -year -old student at the University of Miami in Ohio, and his anonymous friend was detained at Copenhagen Airport on April 1 for an alleged dispute with an Uber driver the previous night, Ray lawyer Jordan Finfer, told ABC News.
Ray’s family said on Monday that their son and friend had finally been released from prison after being detained for two weeks – but that Ray’s family said that the Danish authorities have taken their passports so that they should stay in Denmark.
“We are relieved that Owen was released from a Danish prison following the uninsured assault that he and his friend suffered in the hands of an Uber driver on March 31,” said his parents, Andy Ray and Sara Buchen-Ray, in a state of sale.
“The facts clearly indicate that Owen is the victim in this case, and we urge Danish officials to allow him to return home to the United States without delay.”
Ray’s lawyer says Ray and an anonymous friend were in an Uber on March 31 when they realized that they had entered the bad address for their destination in the application. The driver would have refused to take them elsewhere.
Ray, his friend and the driver Uber all left the car and it was there that the alleged altercation took place, according to the lawyer, on the basis of Ray’s story on the events.
Finfer said that Ray had told him that the driver had kicked him in the groin and in response, Ray pushed him back and that the driver fell. Finfer said that Ray and his friend then fled from the driver.
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The two students were then arrested at Copenhagen airport the day after the alleged altercation when he was trying to go home. Local police tried the pair “risk of theft” and said that it was planning to flee the incident, said Finfer.
A Copenhagen police spokesman said several points of sale that the two students had been accused of joint assault.
“They were sentenced to 10 days in detention before the trial. This verdict has spread until April 24,” added the spokesperson.
Ray’s parents said their son and his friend “did nothing to trigger the attack”.
“We urge the Danish authorities to recognize Owen’s innocence and to release him immediately,” they said. “Our family has a broken heart, and we want our son to be the house to celebrate Easter with us this week.”
The US State Department said in a statement on Monday that he was aware of the situation and provided citizens with consular assistance, according to ABC affiliate based in Chicago WLS.
A spokesperson for the department told NBC News that citizens’ security was a priority but that no other comment would be given out of respect for their privacy.
Monday, from Denmark, Ray said Hello America He and his friend had been released from guard.
“I feel good. I am happy that the High Court ruled in our favor today and allowed us to be released from the prison,” said Ray. “It feels good to be with my family.”
Recalling the incident on March 31, Ray said that he had walked “to a few houses” with his friend and it was at this point that the Uber driver would have led to looking for them.
“He found us. He then got out of the car and started screaming on us, thinking that he had not been paid for the Uber, but in fact, he had been paid for the Uber,” said Ray. “He then entered our faces and said,” I’m going to call 10 guys “. We said, “We didn’t hurt anything”. He then started an altercation with us. »»
A Uber spokesperson said Hello America that “the driver reported to Uber that he had been attacked by two runners”.
“We were both very shocked by the fact that we were arrested for this incident,” said Ray. “We hadn’t done anything wrong. We were victims of an attack. ”
Ray described the conditions of the Danish prison in which he was detained for two weeks.
“There were two of us in a pretty prison cell in bunk beds. We spent 23 hours a day in the cell. We had one hour a day of court. We were allowed to make a telephone call per week,” said Ray.
Ray added that he was not “entirely sure” from the current state of his legal affair and said that the Danish legal system “had not been entirely clear about what is happening”.
“As far as I know for the moment, we are still waiting for the police to investigate not to continue the case or that a date of trial is fixed,” he added.
Ray and his friend, who want to remain anonymous, have to go to the police daily to his hearing, which is scheduled for April 24.
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